Brillant
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Having family originate from the same postal area as everytown (and one member live on the same road 'Flash Lane'), I bought the book with interest if not slight reluctance - half expecting some patronising exposition on working class life. However, I found every page was a genuine delight. Informative, interesting, witty and accurate. Sure, it is from the 'outsider' perspective, but what else did you expect? Baggini to effect a 'Rovram' accent and attempt to be a cross between Sean Bean and Wittgenstein?
The reivews of the book surprised me - flawed by straw men and ad hominems. As one who has also 'escaped' the area through university, I found this book gave me a fresh perspective on how dangerous it is to criticise mass culture - the section on the Da Vinci Code says more about middle class snobbery than you would expect. Buy this and enjoy.
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Obvious ideas and unsound arguments
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Philosopher goes to live in statistically average English town for 6 months to find out what 'Englishness'is.
The book has three real problems: First of all, almost all of the stuff that Baggini 'finds out' comes under the general category of The Bleeding Obvious - English people like going down the pub, their not too fussy about food, their generally a little wary of ethnic minorities. etc. You don't need to have studied philosophy to work those things out.
A Second issue is that most of the traits Baggini 'discovers' are not really definitively 'English' - Most of the traits he describes are shared by all Northern European countries and many Americans, etc, so the book to me failed to do what it says on the tin.
Thirdly, and most irritatingly of all for me, as soon as he describes a new universal English trait, he inevitably immiediately explains how he, personally, doesn't himself share it. While you and I are chowing down on baked beans and fish fingers at the local Harvester, like you do, Roberto is eating squid and rocket salad in some bijou bistro. While your drnking 10 pints of lager down the pub whlst watching an Elvis impersonator, Roberto's at home with a Bartok CD and his collection of rare sherries. Apart from making him sound like a ludicrously pretentious southern media ponce, this of course contradicts his own argument - how can you claim something is a universal trait if it doesn't apply to yourself? It's philosophically unsound, mate.
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Interesting reading
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The main difference between this book and other examinations of the English mindset such as Kate Fox's "Watching The English" is that Baggini is a philosopher and so relates his observations to various philosophical views in ethics, politics, etc. This is far from a difficulr read however, as Baggini has an easy readable style. The other difference is that Baggini actually took time out to spend 6 months with his subjects which is just as well since it is clear that the lifestyles and attitudes of the average English person are very different from those of the sort of liberal middle-class urbanite who reads (and writes) a book like this.
The conclusions are not that surprising and but backed up with various statistics and polls as well as Baggini's own observations. Overall it is an even-handed, intelligent and interesting read concluding that despite beliefs to the contrary the average English person does have a consistent philosophy just one that is different from that of the average liberal set.
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A Guide to the English Mind....but for whom ?
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I was looking forward to this book which put itself forward as a study of the philosophy of life of the typical Englishman, his fears, his aspirations and his ethical beliefs; all of this garnered from a 6-month stay in England's most average postcode. Unfortunately, amusing as it is in parts, it never really lives up to its set ambition. What is worse, there are parts that read just like an exploration of the mythical North/South divide.
Some problems are evident from the beginning. Baggini focuses on an aspect of English life and then, with the admittedly dubious aid of opinion polls, the tabloid press and conversations with locals in the boozer, constructs a set of extremely general truths about English society and the practices of the common man. What are often presented as original insights into the English mind are, I'm afraid, platitudes which apply to almost any modern nation in the Western world. For example, with much fanfare and preparation, we are told that we are obsessed by status, tolerant but wary of other cultures and prefer familiarity and convenience to that which is alien or challenging. There is nothing distinctly English about this.
One reason why the results of Baggini's investigations are disappointing may lie within the author himself. He comes across as extremely ingenuous, a sort of Hugh Grant of the writing world, jumping into everyday pursuits with a sort of trepidation which can only come from living a very withdrawn life. He is shocked by cinema food / snack prices and openly admits he has never betted before. In certain cases, an outsider's view can lend a degree of objectivity to a cultural history but Baggini's lack of participation in the English way of life previous to his trip up North ultimately acts as an obstacle to revealing its key characteristics.
At one point in the book, there is a jab at two other writers, Paxman and Scruton, who are chided for having ignored the average man and concentrated on literary figures and historic events to define the English. One gets the distinct feeling that Baggini might have been more comfortable with this approach.
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food for a lot of thought
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I really enjoyed this book and am buying a few copies for folk I know. For a look at what it mens to be English, what it means to be an outsider in England, and who the people of England are, this book does pretty well, and is honest about its limitations. It's also v readable. My wife read it in a couple of sittings. I chewed on it a bit longer and found myself quoting bits of it to various friends and colleagues as i went along. It's the first time i've read something that acknowledges that most people in England don't think the same as the people who run the media, who are mostly based in a small set in the southeast
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